Chapter 13 #3
“This is Calcifiend,” she announced, which was hardly an explanation. Then she whispered to the damn animal like it could understand her. I couldn’t catch what she said to it but the little beastie clicked its tongue then took off on its wings and sped back the way we’d come.
I opened my mouth to demand answers but Everest sprinted off into the trees to our right without another word.
I stared after her with a sneer, unsure what maddened path she was on. As her sudden absence settled over me, uncertainty crawled through my skin. What was I supposed to do now that I was alone?
Gail’s screams coloured the air as Jacobin cast an ice blade in his grip and sliced it along her arm.
If I walked out there and made a stand against my own father, I would be declared a traitor of my people. His son or not, I doubted he would take kindly to that. I wouldn’t raise a sword against him either way. So what the fuck was I supposed to do?
A roar of alarm carried to us from the town and my head wheeled back in that direction. The scent of smoke trailed on the air and between the thick boughs, I could just make out the glint of fire rising from one of the rooftops.
My pulse quickened.
Pyros had come. We were under attack.
“Deal with them,” Father clipped, striding for the trees. “The Flamebringers have shown their faces at last.” He raced into the trees and I held my breath when he passed me, watching him disappear into the night.
I turned back to the group as Agatha and Jacobin shared excited looks and Jacobin’s hand slid down Gail’s dress.
My fingers closed on the hilt of my sword, a burn in my veins telling me to do something, to fuck the consequences.
As I stepped forward in an act of certain treachery, a wild cat sprang from the trees, a white leopard landing on Agatha and knocking her to the ground.
She lunged for her throat, my sister in her Order form a vicious thing to behold as she tore and slashed and bit, not stopping even when Agatha screamed.
Her snake hair tried to sink its fangs into Everest but my sister ripped them clean out of her head with her teeth and tossed the writhing things on the ground, leaving Agatha wailing in agony.
Jacobin ran to help her, but I raced forward to intercept him, sword raised and heart in my throat.
I hesitated at the last second and punched him in the chest instead.
It knocked him flat on his back and Everest ripped Agatha’s throat out in a vicious attack then she leapt onto Jacobin, slashing his face with her claws and silencing his baying yell with a bite that snapped his spine, ending his life in a reign of purest pain.
Everest lifted her head , blood staining her white fur and a savagery in her eyes that made me want to kneel before it. Agatha and Jacobin’s bodies were laid to waste at her paws, their faces still twisted in anguished terror.
Casey and Meredith gathered around their paralysed sister, hugging her tight in relief.
“Thank you,” Casey croaked, staring at Everest then at me. I shook my head because I hadn’t really done anything at all. Yet in my heart, I had. I’d made a stand against my father. I’d had a hand in his warriors’ deaths.
Everest took a step toward me then stiffened, looking down in alarm. She’d stepped on one of the mutilated snakes, its fangs digging deep into her paw.
“Shit,” I gasped as Everest staggered two steps then collapsed at my feet.
“Run,” I barked at the girls and between them, they managed to carry their sister away into the woods. “Don’t stop. And don’t come back!”
I lifted Everest into my arms, cursing into the night air and looking around in confused desperation. This venom was going to take some time to wear off. I had to hide her somewhere she could recover and come up with an iron clad alibi for this shit show of a bloodbath.
I’d been bitten by a Medusa before and it had been hours before I’d regained full movement in my body. If we were gone that long, it would be more than a little suspicious.
“Alright, I’ve got a plan. You’re gonna have to trust me, runt.”
She gurgled a mewl that said she abso-fucking-lutely did not trust me but she didn’t have a choice. I ran for the trees where she’d laid her trap, finding her clothes stashed there.
“Can you shift?” I asked.
She blinked once then turned into her Fae form and I dropped her haphazardly onto the ground, not wanting to touch my naked sister. With a blast of water, I cleaned the blood off of her then rolled her around in the grass a bit to dry her off while she grumbled and grunted.
“Okay, step one complete,” I announced.
I jammed her clothes onto her as quickly as I could then lifted her up again, tossing her over my shoulder like a sack of shit and running back to the town.
“Pyros is here,” I voiced my worries out loud. “We can wait out the fight and- hang on…” The sounds carrying from the town didn’t sound like a fight at all.
As I got closer, I found the flames were being doused by jets of water rising up from the far side of the buildings ahead, a new fire catching again as soon as another was put out.
A small blue lizard flew out of a window where the latest fire had started, smoke trailing after it and it all clicked together.
I glanced at Everest. “You told your lizard thing to start the fire.”
She grunted which I took as an affirmation.
“Clever little runt,” I said in a jibe, but hell it actually had been a decent plan. It had drawn Father away from the girls and given us an opportunity to free them. But it was a crime we were now partners in. A secret that could never be uttered.
I crept closer to the town then took the alleys back to the tavern, hoping upon hope we’d beat Father there. A quick glance through a back window assured me that the rest of father’s men had exited to join the commotion and that gave us a chance.
I shoved the window open and tossed Everest through so she landed with a thump on the floorboards. I climbed in after her and accidently kicked her in the ass as I went.
She growled as I picked her up and ran for the basin behind the bar, using water magic to flush out the venom in the bite on her hand. She sagged against me like a ragdoll as I held her up with one arm, her toes scraping across the floor and her head lolling against my shoulder.
I propped her against the bar while I grabbed the bottle of rum I’d been working on earlier, downing a long swig before holding it to her lips.
“Drink.” She swallowed when I poured it between her lips, then I splashed a healthy measure on her clothes to give her the scent of a real drunk bitch.
The front door opened and my heart jolted as Father walked in, looking as pissed off as a cat in a cloud of dog farts. His gaze cut to me and Everest sank slowly off the bar to the floor at my feet with a long groan.
“I knew I could outdrink the runt,” I laughed, hoping it didn’t sound too strained as Father cut us a look.
“Ransom,” he barked, glancing at Everest at my feet. “You fool. You’ve inebriated our fucking weapon.”
“Is she needed?” I tried to sound concerned. “What was all that shouting about?”
“Looks like there’s a few stragglers in this town fucking with us. But not to worry, we’ll flush them out by dawn.” He pushed a hand into his hair then glanced back at the door. “I’d better check on Agatha and Jacobin.”
I smiled casually. “Sure. I’ll put the Void to bed.”
Father nodded stiffly then exited the tavern again, leaving me with a breath sighing from my lips. “He’s gonna be pissed when he gets back,” I muttered. “Let’s hope he assumes that those Flamebringers shifted and killed two of his best.”
I scooped Everest up, heading for the room I’d discovered upstairs, wondering why it felt right to have sent two monsters into death this evening with the aid of my sister.
She might have been a runt, but she was a fearsome runt I supposed.
And so help me, we were bonded by this secret now.
Because if Father ever found out what we’d done, we truly were fucked.